


October

by curlydots



Category: Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, M/M, pretty much just dumb fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-31 18:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6482452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curlydots/pseuds/curlydots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's October and things are going pretty well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	October

**Author's Note:**

> i've been meaning to write for these two for a long time so i figured i'd just start myself off with something really straightforward to help me try and get their characters down. thus, pointless fluff.

For the sake of politeness, Lion made a point to not arrive at Will’s apartment 15 minutes early, and instead waited quietly in the hallway staring at his watch. He had, admittedly, been a little excited to finally be visiting his boyfriend's place and had ended up leaving the island a few hours earlier than was strictly necessary only to end up ditching his cab and walking the rest of the way to avoid getting there even earlier. It'd been a cool morning and a mostly downhill walk, so even if he was a bit tired and smelled a little grass-y, he at least wasn't sweaty.

It was when he'd finally found the apartment that he remembered what Will said when he initially invited him over about "not getting his hopes up". It wasn’t that he’d expected Will to pick someplace gaudy and extravagant to live but this was a bit...modest. The hallway smelled a little musty, like several years worth of very fragrant cooking had sunken into the carpet and wallpaper. But even with all of Will's forewarning Lion had been determined. Will had suddenly invited him over after months of suggesting that Lion wouldn't like it there so he'd be damned if he'd go back on his word.

At about a minute after one Lion finally knocked on the door. After about a full minute and some increasingly annoyed knocking the door finally swung open.

Will stood by the door blinking slowly at him. Lion wasn't all that surprised to find that he was wearing a sweater, boxers, and a pillow imprint on his cheek. He squinted down at Lion with a look of mild confusion and Lion gave him a smile in return.

“Good afternoon Will,” Lion said pleasantly.

Will continued to stare at him sleepily. "Weren't we meeting on Thursday?"

"It is Thursday Will," said Lion.

"Weren't we meeting at 1?" Will looked down at the watch on his wrist. "Oh.”

“If you weren’t ready to invite me over you could have picked a later date.”

Will yawned loudly. “Probably won’t be any different tomorrow, so today’s as good as any other day. Might as well come in." He stepped out the way, gesturing Lion into his apartment. He sighed and followed Will in.

"Here take these." He handed Will several plastic bags full of food that he'd brought with him.

Will accepted the bags with a frown. “Guests usually aren't the ones to cook, you know.”

“Yes,” Lion agreed, “but I wanted us to actually be able to eat something. So I hope your oven works. I did all of my cooking already but I'll need to reheat everything and - " Lion paused as he finally looked around the apartment. "Oh Will, really?"

Will placed the grocery bags down on a pile of books that Lion suspect might be hiding a small coffee table. He ended up knocking over a lamp and a sword that’d been resting on the same pile. "Really what?" he asked.

“Really, all of this,” Lion said, waving a hand around the room. The entire apartment, if the living room was anything to go by, was piled with clothes, trash, books, and a few worrying looking piles of magical objects that Lion didn't feel comfortable trying to identify. If there was any kind of organization going on it was beyond him. The only clear spots were the section of couch that Will had flopped himself down on and the place where Lion had kicked himself some floor space to stand. On top of all of that there was a faint litter box smell to the apartment but without any sign of the cat anywhere. Lion wondered if perhaps she had been absorbed into a pile of garbage after straying too close.

"Will, you're an adult," said Lion. "How do you handle living somewhere so messy?"

Will shrugged, leaning back against his couch. "I'm retired. I'm here all the time, if I clean around here it just gets messy again. Besides, it's cozy.”

Lion made his way over to the table and nudged it with his foot. A small cloud of dust rose from it. _Cozy_. "Will, would you please put those containers in the oven. Just hot enough to warm them up, they've already been cooked." Lion started pulling off his coat before he realized there was nowhere to hang it and settled for rolling up his sleeves. "Then I'd like you to bring me ever cleaning tool you own."

Will scratched his chin slowly. "I think I've got a mop in one of my closets."

"Never mind, just bring me some trash bags."

 

Trying to clean up after Will was no small task but Lion figured if he worked through the place one corner at a time it might not be that bad. The piles of junk closest to the door appeared to be mostly benign. Lots of books and a few boxes full of what might have been old cases of Will's, reduced to hundreds of sheets of paperwork. Lion did his best to organize them chronically but even if Will dated every piece of paper he'd worked on his handwriting varied so drastically that it was difficult to consistently read. There were the shockingly elegant writings in the records he kept and then there were the absolutely appalling scribbles that looked like Will had never really grasped the concept of writing and just liked to randomly scribble on pieces of paper. Lion focused mostly on the trash, filling up a few bags way too quickly as he moved around the room.

Admittedly he was learning a lot about Will’s work though all his cleaning. Primarily that it was about 90% cold paperwork on very depressing subject matter. It was strange to see an entire person’s life and death boiled down to a half page summary and notification of "procedures" used. After just a few casual glances Lion was already through. He wasn't sure how Will has lasted so long.

But he also learned other stuff, like the fact Will apparently didn't know how to throw things away, even if those things were extremely old. Or that even though he referred to himself as a coffee man he had a tea collection that even Natsuhi might be impressed by. It was new for him to be exploring Will’s life and probably way over due, but it was also slowly killing the image that Lion still secretly had of Will being heroic and cold. Sure he knew Will well enough at this point to know that he wasn't exactly "cool", but substituting that image with one of Will as a total mess and apparently a sentimental bum was oddly refreshing.

"I think the polite thing to do in this instance would be to offer to help me," said Lion as he shoved a pile of clothes into a spare laundry bag. "I am, after all, your guest."

Will opened one eye, not bothering to move from where he lay belly down on his couch. Admittedly it gave Lion an excellent view of his butt (something Will should have been more wary of) but his napping wasn't exactly helping. Lion flicked him across the nose.

Will yawned. "I'm not very good at cleaning," he gave Lion a sleepy smile, "and you're pretty much good at everything so..."

"Why Willard, flattery will definitely get you places. Do you mind if I move things around?"

"Make yourself at home."

 

Purely by accident, Lion found a folded up note casually buried between the pages of a Enochian dictionary. Curious, he opened it, half expecting something mysterious and sinister to be written on it but instead it was a crude drawing of Will with the words “do not disturb” written over it. In the corner were the words _Dlanor A. Knox_  in sloppy cursive.

“A sentimental old man, huh,” Lion said to himself with a smile. He wondered if Will had stuck the piece of paper outside his office door back before he'd retired. Carefully he folded it back up. When he moved to replace the book however a small white cat was sitting on the pile of Will’s books.

“Oh my,” said Lion, “is this the lady of the house?” The cat eyed him carefully, her tail flicking back and forth.

“Hm?” Will raised his head enough to look at him with his chin propped up on the arm of the couch. “Oh yeah, that’s Diana. Be careful she doesn’t really like strangers all that - “ Lion picked the cat up and gently placed her down away from the books. “Okay, never mind.”

Diana hopped onto the couch beside Will and curled herself into a ball. “Wow, she barely lets me pick her up.”

“Not much for being a pet is she?” Lion said, placing more books into boxes. The next time he came he was installing a bookshelf.

“Nah, I'm pretty sure I'm her pet.”

“Understandable,” Lion said.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched Will scratch Diana's chin. In a quiet voice Will whispered, “I don't blame you, Diana. You've got pretty good taste.” Lion continued cleaning and tried to hide his smile.

 

The oven went off when he was in the middle of sweeping (he'd miraculous found a broom in one of the closets) but Lion wasn't one to stop mid cleaning and decided to let the oven keep their food warm while he cleaned. It didn't seem as though Will minded, since he'd very quickly dropped back off to sleep with Diana alternating between sitting on his head and chest. Lion wasn't sure if he was simply an incredibly deep sleeper or that used to the cat walking all over him but it was fine with him either way.

Eventually when he felt that the apartment was as good as it was going to get he placed two plates of food on the newly cleaned coffee table, shooed Diana away, and gave Will a sharp pinch.

“Ouch! That hurt!” Will said, clapping both hands over his butt before looking around in confusion. “Wait, where am I?”

“On your couch in your apartment.”

“Huh,” he said softly. He looked around the room. It wasn’t a perfect cleaning job - Lion hadn’t had _that_ much time after all - but all of his books had been put away, and a horrifying layer of dust had been wiped off the place. It turned out at he had pretty nice hard wood floors underneath all the junk. “Bigger than I remembered.”

“I imagine so,” Lion said, only feeling slightly smug. There wasn’t a table in the kitchen or anything that looked like a dining room so he climbed over Will’s legs and sat himself down on the couch with his plate. “If you cleaned regularly you might be able to utilize your floor space.”

“Or you could come by more often.”

“Not to be your housekeeper, you lazy bum” Lion said. He reached over and held his fork up to Will's mouth. “Here, it’s scallops with a mango vinaigrette.”

Lion made a point of not staring at Will while he chewed but it was difficult when the man closed his eyes and had an entirely to serious look on his face. It wasn't like Lion wasn't confident in his cooking skills. It was just very, very important for Will to like everything about him and continue thinking he was great.

Finally Will opened his eyes, nodding slowly to himself. Lion held his breath.

"That was literally the best thing I've ever eaten," he said.

Lion did his best to keep his smile from turning into anything goofy and undignified. "Thank you. Gohda taught me well." It’d actually taken Lion a few tries to get the dish up to his standards but he didn’t need to say that aloud.

"Lion, I mean it,” Will said, sitting up. “That scallop is undeniable proof that you are definitely a miracle."

Lion felt a blush forming and smiled. "I do endeavor to be as miraculous as possible in my everyday life."

"It shows," Will said. The faint smirk on his lips suited him well, Lion thought. Just as Will started to say something else Lion dropped his plate and crossed the couch to kiss him. He’d planned to keep it short but just as he started to pull back Will’s hand was there, sliding gently along the back of his neck as Will gently deepened their kiss.

Lion felt pleasantly warm by the time Will finally let him go and tried to be casual as he loosened his cravat. Judging by his smile Will was perfectly aware of how his kiss had affected Lion but he grabbed his own plate and started eating anyway.

Lion scoffed and pinched his side lightly. “It's rude to tease.”

“It's rude to grab people's butts too but that doesn't stop you.”

They ate the rest of their meal in comfortable silence. Diana made a few occasional appearance to demand Will’s attention by meowing until he had to stop eating to pet her but it was still more pleasant than Lion had been expecting it to be.

“So,” Lion said when they'd finished up and cleaned, "What does a retired old man do when he’s got no more mystical murder cases to solve.”

“I keep busy,” Will said with a grin. Before he could ask for clarification Will was wrapping his arms around Lion’s waist.

“Oh,” Lion said as Will picked him and pulled both of them down across the couch, and then with a bit of a disappointment a softer “ _oh_ ” when he realized that Will was actually just trying to get back to sleep with Lion ontop of him.

"Hm. As much as I’m enjoying this you’re going to wrinkle my clothes. I don't need my mother to think I’ve been up to anything scandalous. Especially if we aren't going to be doing anything scandalous.” But Lion didn’t actually bother moving away. Damn Will was warm.

Will dropped a hand down onto Lion’s head and stroked his head lightly. "I’d say sneaking off your island to snuggle up with your secret boyfriend on his birthday is pretty scandalous. "

"Well yes, I suppose," Lion said. He paused for a second before yanking his head back. “Excuse me, did you say today is your birthday?”

“Ah, crap - ouch! How did you even reach my ass, I’m on my back?!”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Lion asked, “I would have gotten you something.”

“Yeah, you just cleaned my apartment and brought me lunch and are letting me cuddle you.”

“That hardly counts. You know this is the bare minimum that I allowed myself.”

Will sighed and rolled them over so that his head was on Lion's chest, check squished up against his sternum. “I didn’t want you thinking this was a big deal. I don't know if you've noticed but I'm a man of minimal needs.”

“Yes, but I'm not. So tell me, what do you want for your - “

“Nap with me,” Will said instantly.

“God, you're terrible. There's got to be more that I can do. I still - I feel as though I owe you,” Lion said. As casual and friendly as their relationship was Lion wasn't going to forget everything Will had done for him. It wasn't every person who'd get their arm ripped off for a stranger and Lion didn't forget favors easily.

“Well you don't," said Will bluntly. "I'd have done it for anyone.”

"My, don't you know how to make a guy feel special."

"No, I didn't mean - " Will cut himself off with an annoyed grunt. Lion wasn't sure what embarrassment looked like on someone as weird as Will but he was starting to suspect that Will pouting grumpily at the floor might have been it. "Look, I just. I like you. And I'm glad you're the person I saved. You're plenty special. So...no keeping score.”

“I don't know how I stand you," Lion said softly, shaking his head. "Move over.” Lion pulled off his coat and button up, choosing to stay in his pants and undershirt before laying back down carefully on his side facing away from Will. “Be mindful of my hair.”

Will hesitated for a moment before mumbling a soft, “you got it”. He threw an arm and a leg over Lion and dropped his head against his neck. Lion sighed. He felt wrinkly and disheveled already and made a mental note to see if there was a iron hiding somewhere in the apartment later.

“I don't suppose there's anything else you'd much rather be doing with me?” Lion asked hopefully.

“Nope. I'm warm and sleepy. Maybe when my birthday’s over.”

Lion turned over Will's arm and checked his watch. 5:00 in the afternoon. He'd been planning on just staying for lunch and then heading back to the island in the afternoon but if there were some perks to sticking around past midnight then maybe it wasn't the worst idea to be home late just once. And he'd had a pretty long day with lots of walking and way more cleaning than anyone should go through in one day. A short nap with his boyfriend snoring a little and wrapped up warm around him might be nice.

"Happy Birthday, Will," he said, slowly shutting his eyes. Will kept sleeping but from somewhere nearby Diana answered with a soft meow.


End file.
